Judiciary Official Opposes EP Resolution on Iran Ties

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – An Iranian Judiciary human rights official denounced the European Parliament’s recent resolution on the EU strategy toward Iran, stressing that the Judiciary will not permit the establishment of an EU delegation in Tehran, which he slammed as a “den of corruption”.

Speaking to reporters in Tehran on Wednesday, Chief of the Iranian Judiciary’s Human Rights Council Mohammad Javad Larijani slammed the EP resolution as a document revealing the EU’s real intentions in dealing with Iran.

The European Parliament passed a resolution on October 25 on the EU strategy toward Iran after coming into force of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a nuclear agreement between Tehran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).

There are a lot of flaws in the resolution, though it has defined areas of cooperation with Iran in all fields, Larijani explained, saying the document has regarded Iran as a market for the sale of European goods.

He also slammed the resolution for talking about Iran’s nuclear program “in a rude manner”, saying it was impolite of the Europeans to raise the threat of re-imposing sanctions against Iran, while the country has already honored all its commitments under the JCPOA.

The EP resolution says “development of EU-Iran relations should advance hand in hand with the implementation of the nuclear agreement/JCPOA,” stipulating that “under the terms of the agreement a failure in its implementation by Iran can lead to the reintroduction of sanctions.”

Elsewhere in his remarks, Larijani lashed out at the European Parliament for commenting on human rights in Iran, saying they “lack the competence” to tell Iran to correct its conduct, while there are numerous cases of violence and violation of human rights in Europe itself.

As regards the EU plans to establish an office in Tehran, he said it would not be a big deal as long as the office deals with trade and business, but “they have announced that they want to make close contact with human rights advocates and NGOs inside our country with the establishment of such an office to make sure about the process of implementation of human rights” in Iran.

“They (EU) should know that the (Iranian) Judiciary will definitely not allow the establishment of such a den of corruption in Iran,” Larijani emphasized.

The EU resolution has welcomed “the steps taken by the EEAS for the establishment of an EU Delegation in Tehran”, saying “EU-Iran relations should be developed through multi-layered dialogue involving political, diplomatic, economic, academic, technical, and people-to-people contacts that include civil society actors, NGOs and human rights defenders.”